tiffany



A2 Sheetsf--Sheet 1.

` E. TIFFANY'. l Knitting-Machine Needle-Cylinders.

lNo.l49,8H.

PatentedAprl 14, 1874.

2 Sheets--Sheet 2.

ZYLeSSGS. Ink-anion @FFI-cn.

nti frinnnnv, Bnnruiverou, VERMONT. i

11M PROVE-M ENT fILN K-N-wTrNe-ivmemNIE-NEEDLE cvLlN'D ERS.

4Spcrlieation forming pait of Letters vlfa'felt-No. 149,81 l dated April14, 1874-; Aapplication iiled Ma'yl, T873.

To all ,whom it mag/concern:

Beit known that I, 'ELI TIFFANY, of Bennington, inthe county ofBennington and State of Vermont, have invented an Improved Knitting-M'achine; and I do hereby'declare that the following, taken inconnection with the drawings which accompany and form part of thisspecification, is a description'of my invention suflicient to enablethose 4skilled in the art to practice it.

`The invention relates particularly to the organization of a machine forknitting tubular cord or small tubular work, the machine beingparticularly intended as a toy, or for the use of children, althoughvmore or less applicable to the manufacture of cord for utilitarianpurposes.

In my machine I use a bed-plate, preferably made with a clamp device forattachment to the edge of ya table, and at one end of this plate I tix avertical tube, of lead or soft metal, havingin its outer surface aseriesof radial grooves, in which the shanks of the needles play, the tubebeing shouldered, and having a spring encompassing it above the shoulderto hold the needles in place as they slide, and beingbushed with brassor other composition of harder metal than that of the groovedneedle-tube for a guide through which the-work is to be drawn, and beingencompassed by a rotary yarn-carrier and guide and needle-operator, atthe foot of which is a pulley resting upon the plate, and belted to adrivin g-pulley at the opposite end ofthe plate.

In constructing the needle-tube and uniting it to the bed-plate, I castthe tube of soft metal, and with the bore to a general and uniformlycylindric shape from end to end. The upper end I cast around aprojecting guidetube, the cylinder being, moreover, cast with a seriesof needle-shank grooves extending radially into it. The needle-shanksslide in these grooves, and, to confine them in position for their slidemovements, the cast cylinder is turned down at the upper part to form ashoulder to receive a ligature spring, while at its bottom part thecylinder is turned down, to enter a socket cast in the bed for itsreception, and to form a shoulder to set upon the bed.

The invention consists in a knitting-machine having a needle-shank tubethus formed and unitedto its bed. v

The drawing represents a machine embodying Iny construction. l

Figure l shows the machine in pla-n. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of it.Fig. -3 is a crosssection through the center of the tube. Fig. d showsthe needle-tube in elevation above the base-plate.

a denotes the base-plate; b, the arm, and c the screw by which the plateis clamped to a table. Near one end of the plate rises the tube d, inwhich are formed the vertical and radial grooves e. The upper part ofthe tube is made smaller than the main part, and

around the smaller part j', and upon or just above the shoulder g, is anannular spring, h, encompassing the needle-shanks, and keeping them inplace as they reciprocate vertically. The needles i are ordinarylatch-needles, each having a hook, 7c, and a latch, l, and the shanks ofthese needles play in the grooves e. 'Ihe tube d is hushed with thecomposition tube m, and through this tube is drawn the work formed uponand by the needles. Encompassing the tube and its grooves is-therotating thread-carrier and guide mand through this tubular guide is cutthe cam-groove o, into which extend the butts of the needles, rotationof the tube fn successively effecting the alternate rise and fall of therespective nee# dles. At the bottom of this tube is the grooved pulleyp, formed as a part of the tube, and this pulley is belted by a band, q,with another and driving pulley, l", rotation of the pulley fr effectingthe rotation of the pulley p and the resulting action of the needles. sVdenotes the yarn-spool pin or spindle; t t', the guidingeyes, throughwhich the yarn passes from the spool to the needles. u is an arm, havinga guide-eye, c, through which and the eye w a core of yarns or strands,a', may pass, to be inclosedin the tubular structure or fabric formed bythe needles. y denotes theweight,bywhich the work is drawn down as theloops are successively formed and interlocked. The eye t is placed withsuch relation to the paths` of movement of the needles that the yarn islaid over the open needle-latch, and is kept over such latch. withoutpossibility of slipping benea-th it. When the needle slides down, theloop around its shank extends from the top edge of the tube m, and asthe latch reaches it it throws up the latch, and the hook then draws theyarn (to form a new loop) down through the first loop, the first loopslipping over the latch and hook, and being drawn into the tube by theweight or tension upon the work. As the needle next rises to againreceive the yarn laid into its hook, the loop within the hook, stretchedover the edge of the tube m, is met by the latch, and the latch isthereby opened, being thrown open and held down by the loop, andleaving'the hook ready to receive the yarn thrown into it, or againstthe needle-shank.

By this construction no special devices are needed to open or close thelatches or needlehooks, the strain of the yarn, the position at whichthe yarn is thrown across the needleshanks, and the position of the topof the tube m, insuring the opening and closing of the latches at theproper times.

When the tube is to be knit around the core or central yarns, the end ofsaid core is simply presented to the mouth of the tube against the yarn,when it will be drawn in by the stitches, progressing as the knittingprogresses.

The construction of the tube will be understood from inspection of Figs.5, 6, 7, and 8. Fig. 5 shows the tube as rst cast; Fig. 6, its form whenreduced; Fig. 7, a cross-section of it on the line x; Fig. 8, a sectionon the line y y. The tube is rst cast the uniform cylindrical form, andwith the radial grooves, as seen in Figs. 5 and 7 it being also castaround the guide-tubem, as shown in Fig. 8. The tube, having been thuscast, is turned down at each end, as seen in Figs. 6 and 8, itsshouldered bottom end entering the bed, and its upper end receiving thespring h, as shown in Fig. 3.

I claim- The knitting-machine needle-shank cylinder or tube d, cast withthe grooves e and upon the guide-tube m, and then turned down at theends to be applied to the bed, and to receive the needle-holding rinVitnesses: ELI TIFFANY.

CHARLES Coornn, FRANK TIFFANY.

